“You’re right, Meri. You’re not normal. You’re way better than that. You’re a genius. The rest of us are idiots.”

He wasn’t an idiot. He was perfect.

“I’ve been in college since I was twelve,” she mumbled. “That’s five years. If I was really smart, I’d be done now.”

“You’re getting a Ph.D., not to mention your, what, third masters?”

“Something like that.” Unable to be in the same room with him and not look at him, she flipped onto her back.

God, he was so amazing, she thought as her chest tightened and her stomach turned over a couple of times. Technically the organ in question couldn’t turn over. What she felt was just-

She covered her face with her hands. “I have to find a way to turn off my brain.”

“Why? So you can be like the rest of us?”

She dropped her hands to her side. “Yes. I want to be a regular girl.”

“Sorry. You’re stuck being special.”

She loved him so much it hurt. She wanted him to think she was more than his best friend’s kid sister. She wanted him to see her as a woman.

Right, and while she was having a fantasy moment…

maybe he could see her as a beautiful woman he ached for. As if!

“I don’t have any friends,” she said as she did her best to ignore the need to tell him she would love him forever. “I’m too young, especially in the Ph.D. program. They all think I’m some upstart kid. They’re waiting for me to crash and burn.”

“Which isn’t going to happen.”

“I know, but between my academic isolation and my lack of a female role model since the death of my mother, the odds of my maturing to a normal functioning member of society grow more slim each day. Like I said-I’m a freak.” Tears rolled down her temples to get lost in her hair. “I’ll never have a boyfriend.”

“Give it a couple of years.”

“It’s not going to happen. And even if some guy does take pity on me and ask me out, he’ll have to be drunk or stoned or something to want to kiss me, let alone have sex with me. I’m going to d-die a virgin.”